Esther Cepeda | Violence, obesity go beyond niches

12:37 AM,
Nov. 29, 2013

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Esther Cepeda

Two recent studies hint at a rarely considered aspect of society's most pervasive ills: violence and obesity. They aren't reliably limited to the poor.

First, a fascinating bit of research out of Yale University on Chicago's gun violence found that a person's social circle is a key predictor of whether an individual will become a victim of gun homicide - even more so than race, age, gender or level of poverty.

Echoing what every parent tells their budding teens, Yale sociologist Andrew Papachristos said, "Risk factors like race and poverty are not the predictors they have been assumed to be. ...